His job will be to develop the sport, set up a coaching programme and encourage more schoolchildren into squash.
Announcing Evans’s appointment Jersey Squash Rackets Association president Steve Law said: ‘It’s fantastic.
For quite a long time now we’ve seen the need for it, and now we have someone who can really push the development of the sport forward.
We have been doing a lot of the work ourselves upto now but to have David here will really give it a boost, especially for the youngsters.’ Evans, who played in the weekend’s Jersey Festival, said he is very pleased to get the job.
He and his wife are planning to move to the Island later this month and he takes up the post on 1 November.
‘I’ve always wanted to take up coaching, to put something back into the sport.
I’ve been playing on the circuit for the last 12 years, which involved a lot of travel away from home, so it will also be very good to have a more permanent base and a bit of normality,’ he said.
‘I really enjoyed visiting Jersey last May when I played in an exhibition match with John White, and for the festival at the weekend.’ He was impressed by the facilities on offer for squash players in the Island.
‘There are quite a lot of courts, considering the number of people who actually play.
All I have to do now is to try and get people on to them.’ Law said that the job was advertised on the England Squash website and that there had been six ‘serious’ applications.
‘David was offered the job and accepted.
His brief is to develop and organise a coaching programme, for squash in general but for schools in particular.
It will be a three to five-year programme and the appointment of what is essentially a development officer for squash, is co-funded by the Jersey Squash Club and Education, Sport and Culture.
David will be paid a retainer for the development side and he’ll be coaching in his own right also,’ said Law.
Evans was competing on the Professional Squash Association circuit until very recently, but has withdrawn from it now to concentrate on coaching, although he will still play in the super league for Cardiff on a monthly basis; he was the Welsh champion no fewer than eight times, is still Welsh No 1, and represented his country at the Commonwealth Games.
His highest world ranking was No 3 in 2000 and his most recent top class win was the Salt Lake City Open in July.
Unfortunately for Jersey, he is unlikely to meet the residential criteria to play at next summer’s NatWest Island Games in Shetland.
